Gusty Wellington day for start of Velux 5 Oceans Ocean Sprint 3
by Genevieve Howard on 5 Feb 2011
The Velux 5 Oceans yachts are moored at the Waterfront in Wellington - Velux 5 Oceans Genevieve Howard
It will be a gusty day for the four Velux 5 Oceans Eco 60 sailing yachts leaving Wellington on the Ocean Sprint 3 to Punta de Este in Uruguay on Sunday.
According to the Wellington Met Office website, winds will be northerly gales. There will be cloud cover, with occasional drizzle, and the maximum temperature – on land – will be 21 degrees Celsius.
On Saturday, the Wellington Met Office recorded moderate north-easterly winds, with maximum gusts of 41km/h. Pressure was 1017hPa at noon.
Brad Van Liew (USA), Chris Stanmore-Major (UK), Derek Hatfield (Canada) and Zbigniew Gutkowski (Poland) will begin the third leg of the single-handed, round-the-world race from the Wellington harbour at 2.30pm tomorrow, Sunday February 6.
Private yachts and small craft can take part in the send off. Owners are asked to be considerate of the Velux 5 Oceans racers by keeping their speed down and giving the four Eco 60s room to make their way out of the harbour.
In the Ocean Sprint 3, the four men will sail further south, past Nemo Point – the most remote location on Earth – and rounding Cape Horn to Punta del Este, a race leg of 5,800 nautical miles.
Wellington was the second stopover in the 30,000-mile-race. The competitors arrived from Cape Town, having completed the 7,000-nautical-mile second leg, which began on December 16,2010.
Brad Van Liew won this leg of the race. He also won the Ocean Sprint 1, a 7,500-nautical-mile sprint from La Rochelle to Cape Town.
Velux 5 Oceans website
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/80006
